It
is the summer of 1854. Cholera has seized London with unprecedented
intensity. A metropolis of more than 2 million people, London
is just emerging as a one of the first modern cities in the
world. But lacking the infrastructure necessary to support
its dense population - garbage removal, clean water, sewers
- the city has become the perfect breeding ground for a terrifying
disease no one knows how to cure.

As
their neighbors begin dying, two men are spurred to action:
the Reverend Henry Whitehead, whose faith in a benevolent
God is shaken by the seemingly random nature of the victims,
and Dr. John Snow, whose ideas about contagion have been dismissed
by the scientific community, but who is convinced that he
knows how the disease is being transmitted. In a riveting
day-by-day account, The Ghost Map chronicles the
outbreak’s spread and the desperate efforts to put an
end to the epidemic - and solve the most pressing medical
riddle of the age.

The
Ghost Map is the chilling story of urban terror, but
it is also a story of how scientific understanding can advance
in the most hostile of environments. In a triumph of dynamic,
multidisciplinary thinking, Steven Johnson examines the epidemic
from the microbial level to the human level to the urban level.
Brilliantly illuminating the intertwined histories of the
spread of disease, the rise of cities, and the nature of scientific
inquiry, Johnson presents both vivid history and a powerful,
provocative explanation of how it has shaped the world we
live in.

Steven
Johnson is the author of the national bestsellers
Everything Bad is Good For You and Mind Wide Open
as well as Emergence and Interface Culture.
He is a Distinguished Writer In Residence at New York University’s
Department of Journalism and the founder of several influential
websites, including FEED,
Plastic,
and, currently, outside.in.
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three sons.

“By
turns a medical thriller, detective story and paean to city
life, Johnson's account of the outbreak and its modern implications
is a true page turner.”- The Washington Post

“Johnson
brings to nightmarish, thought-provoking life a world in
which a swift but very unpleasant death can be just a glass
of water away.”
- Entertainment Weekly(An Entertainment Weekly Best Book
of the Year)

“"There's
a great story here...and Johnson recounts it well.... His
book is a formidable gathering of small facts and big ideas,
and the narrative portions are particularly strong, informed
by real empathy for both his named and his nameless characters....
Fascinating.”
- David Quammen, The New York Times Book Review (A New York Times Notable Book)

“Johnson
adds a new and welcome element - old-fashioned storytelling
flair… - to his fractal, multi-faceted method of unraveling
the scientific mysteries of everyday life.” - Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Steven
Johnson gives us history at its best: colorful, connected
and compelling. At the core is a medical mystery, or what
today would be called an epidemiological detective story....
A masterpiece of historical writing.”
- Seattle Times

“Steven
Johnson tells the tale with verve, spicing his narrative
with scenes of Dickensian squalor and the vibrant street
life surrounding that squalor. But in Johnson's hands, Ghost
Map morphs into something more than mere history…Readers
will recognize a reworking of [Johnson’s] favorite
themes: the interface of culture and technology; the phenomenon
of emergence (the bottom-up organization of small interconnected
elements into more complex systems); and always, like a
constant bass line in Johnson's extended riff, the theme
of urbanism - the metropolis as a glorious culmination of
emergence, technology and culture.”
- San Diego Union-Tribune

“Unputdownable....
Marvelous...just as was Dava Sobel's Longitude. Yet The
Ghost Map is a far more ambitious and compelling work....
Wonderful. ”- The Wall Street Journal

“This
is more than a great medical detective story. It's the triumph
of reason and evidence over superstition and theory, and
Johnson tells it in loving detail.”- Chicago Tribune

“In
this tightly written page-turner, Johnson uses his considerable
skill to craft a story of suffering, perseverance and redemption
that echoes to the present day. Johnson weaves in overlapping
ideas about the growth of civilization, the organization
of cities, and evolution to thrilling effect. From Snow's
discovery of patient zero to Johnson's compelling argument
for and celebration of cities, this makes for an illuminating
and satisfying read.”- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“[Johnson]
has latched onto a truly compelling story, and he calls
in the voices of Charles Dickens, Samuel Pepys, George Eliot,
Jane Jacobs and Stephen Jay Gould to help tell it. They
make a lively chorus. In 1854, London was the densest settlement
on the planet, with 2.5 million souls crammed into 30 square
miles and an infrastructure awash in sewage. Enter Vibrio
cholerae…We know these details thanks to the bravery
and intellectual independence of two men. Dr. John Snow
bucked the medical establishment's certitude that cholera
was transmitted via foul air. And the Rev. Henry Whitehead,
an Anglican curate, went out into the teeth of the epidemic
to comfort his parishioners and puzzle over the strange
pattern of their deaths. Johnson gives us a dashing sense
of his two iconoclasts groping for explanations and gradually
becoming allies. Johnson describes Snow as a ‘consilient
thinker,’ an E.O. Wilson term for those who nimbly
cross disciplines and create connections. Our author clearly
aspires to be the same.”- Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Johnson
builds suspense in detailing the intersecting quests of
Dr. John Snow and young clergyman Henry Whitehead to find
the source of the illness as it strikes the city's population.
Johnson is interested not only in how groundbreaking theories
are developed but also in how faulty ideas can persist.
Ghost Map also contains surprising historical nuggets.”- USA Today

“In
addition to telling the story of the outbreak, Johnson offers
mini-lessons on related topics: how cholera kills, how Victorian
London dealt with its messes, how and why people cling to
false theories. Lively and educative.”- Kirkus Reviews